Mumbai port’s vehicle exports grow 11% in FY18.

Navi Mumbai: Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) has bucked the national trend of a decline in exports of passenger vehicles (in units) and registered an increase of about 11% in the last fiscal 2017-18. The growth rate was higher at 21% in the 2016-17 fiscal. According to a report of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), there was a decline of 1.5% in passenger vehicle exports in 2017-18.

The positive trend of growth in the segment continues in the new fiscal 2018-19. Exports of passenger vehicles during April-May, 2018 was 41,602 units, while it was 39,698 in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.

Statistics provided by MbPT show that 95% of exports were cars, and remaining in the other vehicles category including transport vehicles with carrying capacity of seven and more persons. The port exported a variety of brands to 73 countries in the previous fiscal, with Mexico accounting for a bulk of the exports. Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) director general and CEO Ajai Sahai said, “The proximity of Mexico with the US and some six hours sailing enables the country to export cars as it was cheaper for car dealers in the US to import from Mexico due to prohibitive warehousing cost.”

Volkswagen tops the list of the exports chart, closely followed by GM, and Maruti Suzuki coming in at a distant third. Maharashtra is a hub for automobile industry as plants of car majors are located at several places including Mumbai, Pune, Nashik and Aurangabad. The port also exports cars from the Maruti Suzuki plant at Manesar in Haryana.

MbPT CMD Sanjay Bhatia said, “We are now going to export Mercedes-Benz also in this fiscal. MbPT is gearing up with the storage facilities to be extended to the automobile exporters in the ensuring period.”

Assistant director (strategic management) Ayushi Abhay said, “Mercedes Benz is starting exports of their SUVs through Mumbai port as confirmed during the meeting held on March 28. To start with, they assured to bring shipment of 250 units to 1,400 units. The cost of the car is in the range of Rs 26-28 lakh. The vehicles are of high value and would be exported to developed countries like the UK and Japan. The manufacturing location of Mercedes-Benz currently is at Chakan, Pune.”